Playing God
by Nozidoz
Summary: It was suppose to be just another case. Perhaps a challenging one, but nothing Gibbs couldn't entrust his agents to successfully accomplish. So why then did a member of his family return in a body bag? R&R
1. Preface

**This is somewhat of a preface. You'll know soon enough what happened here, or who or what leads up to this moment. Just sort of a 'grabbing' entrance for the story. Tell me what you think? R&R**

**And no, I don't own NCIS.**

**.vengence.**

Gibbs let the doors from Vance's office click together gently from behind him. For a split second, the man found himself unable to move. He let his back dig into the office doors, his head lowered. He didn't care if Vance's assistant gawked at the scene. Nor did he respond when she asked if he was alright. He didn't need to answer. He didn't want to...

Because truthfully, Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not okay. Not by a long shot.

Slowly he found himself heading for Abby's lab. The elevator seemed like it had just kept on going, as if on purpose, so that he could gather his thoughts, or enough strength to at least face her. Nothing he came up with seemed to satisfy what she would need to hear. She would need reassurance, a miracle...a promise that Timothy McGee was still alive. But there was no way Gibbs could give her that.

With the oh-so-common ding of his arrival, he took a step into the hallway, pausing to breathe before stepping into her sinister and silent lab.

He didn't knock, or bring any attention to himself as he entered (which was the usual), only to find her pouring her mind into the computer.

Her fingers shook when she guided the mouse, and then replaced the cursor with the keyboard. She had been scrambling through the evidence, picking and clicking through every file and folder-any piece of the hardware would be dissected by her hands. His frown worsened.

Facing Abigail was going to become very unpleasant. He just knew it. His dearest Sciuto had always been one to show her feelings explicitly with him, and the team. And each time the life of an agent was on the line, or had crossed it, it took a piece of her with it-which, in turn, took bits of him as well. Her emotions somehow easily overwhelmed him, but he wouldn't chastised her. She had a right to feel that way, but that meant he would have to deal with the reality of the situation, and be the strong threshold she would need. Right now, he wasn't so sure he could handle the truth.

"I'll find him Gibbs," Her voice was hoarse, deep from crying.

"Trust me, I'll find that son of a bitch, and-then we'll get him." The clicking and keystrokes seemed to have echoed throughout the lab now.

"Abbs," He softly spoke, nearing her side.

"No, Gibbs! Don't say it. Just-don't say anything. I've got work to do," She had hissed, still strumming away-her physical attention hadn't once left her work. Gibbs sighed, feeling the remorse further grow within himself, as he began to peer up at the plasma before him.

And there it was; that damn video gloating on both of her screens.

"I'm gonna get him, even if that means spending all night-all weak down here to tear this video frame from fucking frame until I find something-anything that will lead me to him. Then, I'll burn his ass."

That hurt. Her whole demeanor changed from sweet, bubbly, always optimistic Abby, to a heart broken, vengeful Abigail. Seeing her so angry, so emotionally stolen wasn't fair. Not for anyone.

The thundering punches on the keyboard worried him. She was breaking inside, and for once, Gibbs wasn't sure he would be able to fix her. Was she irreparable?

Noticing a few droplets splash onto the desk, one landing on her palm, Gibbs stepped in and buried her in his embrace.

"No Gibbs! NO!" Abby howled, "I can't! I don't have time for hugs. Not now. Timmy's...And that piece of shit is still out there!" She fumed, but Gibbs didn't let go, and despite her opposition, she never moved. In fact, Gibbs had noticed his little girl digging herself even further into him.

"We'll find him Gibbs, we will!" She warned through sobs. "We have to..."

"I know Abby," Jethro soothed, and rested a kiss on the scientists' forehead.

"His ass is mine."


	2. Chapter One

**((First chapter is gonna seem unrelated, boring at first-but I promise, just keep reading. It'll get good. :) ))**

**One**

**:Promises:**

"Would you like a shot of caramel with that?"

Shaking her head gingerly, the blonde exchanged her money for the latte and thanked the barista. She picked up a straw as she passed the counter, tossing the coiled up rapper in the trash. She looked up toward the door, her entire face lighting up in a smile when she had caught his glance.

"You sure you don't want some?" She had asked, cozying her way into the man's side. "It's pretty good," She winked, biting at the green straw.

His reaction to her flirty manners kept her smile growing. It wasn't everyday a guy could make her feel that way-to smile, to want to keep smiling at that. But he certainly did, and it made the morning far more worth it than she initially imagined.

What was his answer? Bending down and taking a gulp of her drink. Course, he had also swiped a bit of the whip cream from the top of her cup and painted her nose with it.

"You're right, it was good." His smile, and rested an arm around her shoulders as they headed out of the small shop.

The two walked around the small strip, simply enjoying their closeness. They seemed like regular, unassuming residents enjoying a free Tuesday afternoon. Their smiles seemed genuine, and their intentions engaging. Too bad nothing sweet lasted forever. Their trip to Pleasantville ended the moment the girl received a phone call.

The vibrations shook her pockets rather violently, and so, the young blonde pulled out the phone from her pant pocket and starred at the caller ID with slight suspicion.

"Lila," She answered, waiting on the other end to identify him or herself.

When Lila's arms dropped from her friend's side, and she slowly moved away from him, he knew something was wrong. Judging by her behavior, and the fact that she was trying to 'hush hush' the conversation didn't sit well with him. Not at all. He was beginning to worry. Wasn't this one of the signs he was suppose to look out for?

"Is...everything ok?" He asked once Lila had hung up the phone. The young, pixie-haired girl kept to herself for a moment, but slowly gave him her attention.

"Jack just called..." He knew it...

"Said...there was a commotion going on at the house, Sean, some pretty bad shit..." Her head dropped, shoulders shrinking in until she felt she couldn't shrivel up anymore.

'Sean' had rushed to her side, putting his arms on her shoulders and leaned down to catch her eye.

"What do you mean, Lila? What happened?" Well this wasn't how Sean Murphy had planned on spending his morning. Standing at a heart-broken Lila's side, trying to open her up, and find out what happened. She wasn't easy to work with. Her past, even her present abuse was enough to lock a girl away in an her mind for a very long time.

"What did Jack say?" This time he was a little too persistent. Lila didn't like that. She jerked away, rubbing at her arm furiously. She glared at him, but not exactly-it was more like past him. She swallowed, and rushed for his hand the moment a cop car came around the corner.

"We gotta go!" She hissed, pulling at him as they rushed toward home.

The silence was killing him. And each step they took, he doubled that amount in thought. What was going on? What did Jack say? What was the commotion about? Was...was everyone ok? As soon as they reached the house, which had happened to have been nothing but an old, abandoned warehouse, they finally came to the sliding door. She stopped, her hand resting on the handle.

"Sean...this isn't going to look good," She warned, "But, if it's true, what Jack said, then it's for the best. We still have a chance of getting out of this location without being caught. We can finish up the project, and you can go free..." Her words felt like knives to her heart. At least that's what it looked like, judging by the sorrow on her face.

"Dammit, just tell me what is going on..." He couldn't take this suspense. He felt like he was about to burst at the seams. Anxiety wanting to overwhelm him. But it couldn't. He was trained better, told better.

She nodded, and yanked the rusty door back, revealing the what was left of inside.

"Wha...what happened?" He asked, considering his first steps ended up being in a smear of blood. Obviously from a struggle. But everything-it was gone. The computers, the lab, the setup, the guns...the guys-all of it.

"I'll tell ya what happened, if you help me get this last container out of here!" Russell's voice came from inside. Sean nodded, after spotting the burly man in the corner, and rushed to his side. He gripped the opposite corners that his friend carried, and helped guide the large container of equipment across the bloodied floor, towards the small door on the far side of where he and Lila had entered.

"What the fuck is going on?" He asked, his voice quiver-in anger?

Russell looked behind him, making sure no one but he and Sean were in hearing distance.

"Found out we had some cops in house, Seany-boy," He huffed, guiding with his nods as to where he wanted Sean to head toward. His grey van was out back.

"We had to clean house. Got pretty ugly-everyone turning on one another. Crazy as shit!" He roared, "Four dead, the other six are headin' to the next house."

Sean felt a his worst fear hang in his throat, and he couldn't quite swallow it down. When Russell directed him to open the back of the van, Sean did so, and made way for the last container. That was when he noticed the body. He had spotted the shoe in the window's reflection first. It caught his concerned curiosity, and leaning over, to look over the back seat, Sean felt his body turn numb and could only watch as he crippled backwards.

The body that was cramped back there, it was...he couldn't even think. His heart beating a million times a minute, his panting louder. He wanted to say something, to yell, hell, he wanted to kill someone. But before he could get on his feat, he felt the large arms of Russell grab him from underneath the arms and pull him in close, locking him in a hold.

"Calm yourself, Agent McGee," He whispered, not freeing his grip on the unstable agent for a second.

"It's not as bad as it looks."

"Not as bad?" McGee roared, trembles stealing his voice. "squished in the back of your van! DEAD!" This time, Russell clasped his palm over Tim's mouth quieting him.

"Trust me. Right now, we gotta get up and outta here. Jack has eyes and ears everywhere...we can't afford another dead body. Got it?"

The colossal man let McGee rest in his hold for a few moments later. Once he felt the beating of the boy's heart slow at least slightly, he removed his grasp, and let him stand on his own. He was still a bit shaken, that was for sure, but he did his best to walk it off.

"Everything okay?" Lila asked, still shaken herself.

Russell nodded, smiling his best in order to soften her suspicion, no thanks to the fury that overwhelmed McGee's face. They welcomed her into the group.

"We gotta go," Lila added, sniffling. "Jack suspects the cops will be here anytime. Surely this was leaked already. Now's the time to head out!" The big man agreed, but put his arm on 'Sean's' shoulder.

"We're almost done! Just one more box. I promise. Get the car started," He ordered, tossing the young girl the keys to the van as he practically dragged McGee with him.

It was quiet inside. Just the two of them. Russell kept his gaze on McGee the entire time, reading his every move, deciphering his thoughts. Tim, however, was starring at the blood on the floor. There was a lot...definitely four people's worth. But regardless of how many died, he could only see Tony's. All of it.

"You remember what we talked about, right?" Russell broke the silence. Tim just nodded.

"We still have to do it...there's no other way. Jack's gonna find out-live or die. We can't give him that chance. "

"I know," Tim spoke silently. His gaze fell upon an old security camera above, it was still working, judging by the small red light blinking. He finally nodded. He was ready.

"Sorry Tim."

"Your gonna be if she gets hurt..." Russell chuckled at Tim's response, but nodded.

"I'll make sure Jack doesn't touch her, I promised didn't I?"

"Where are they?" She whimpered, glancing at the warehouse through the rearview mirror. Something didn't seem right. She couldn't piece it together...but it didn't matter. Because nothing was turning out how she had hoped anymore.

A moment later, a loud gunshot cracked throughout the warehouse, eventually bellowing out into the parking lot. Lila couldn't move, couldn't breathe.

"Let's go," was all Russell had said when he returned to the van, tucking the gun into belt, and wiping away some blood from his hands onto his jeans.

"Russell..." she whimpered.

"I said let's go!"

.

**((WHOO! First chapter done. Now onto the second one, which I am writing right now. Hope you enjoy this piece, and I'll try my best to put this puzzle together for you. R&R! ))**


	3. Chapter 2

**((Just want to say that I appreciate the story faves, author faves and reviews! I feel like I'm doing alright with this so far. Some of the story is beginning to bug me, so I'm tring to make it as realistic, or logical as I can...but, I'm an illogical person, so, we'll see. Lol. Enjoy this chapta! :) R&R))**

**.Two.**

**:Worst Case Scenario:**

The mist slithered from his lips, twirling into the frigid night air. His teeth chattered slightly, but he did his best to hide it. After all, who wanted to look like a pussy out on the streets? Kyle didn't at least.

The 24 year old college drop-out made his way across the alleyways, avoiding most open areas and street lights. Checking behind his back constantly, it was very obvious that the suspicious man was hiding something, or from someone. Either way, the few who managed to catch a glimpse of him didn't bother interfere. The kid was on his own in these streets. People died here on a regular basis. One's safest bet would be to stay out of anything, unless you wanted to end up dead.

Kyle Dorey didn't quite get that memo. He was a former city boy, but after dealing with some unexpected drama back home, he found himself failing classes, loosing contact with family, and resorted to what most people did here: drugs.

He was far from being tough shit, but he sure played like it. Based on his college credits, he was terrible at acting.

The whole 'drug', and 'gang' thing was new to him-a lifestyle only real in the movies. Hanging with the wrong crowd got him wrapped up in it easy enough, but dealing with it, and getting out alive was almost legend.

When the redhead made it to his location, which happened to have been behind an old video store, he couldn't help but expel his nervousness.

Where was he? Drake was suppose to meet him here, right? Shit, he hoped so. He'd walked half an hour to get here, in the dark, freezing night-with a possibility of rain he heard. Last thing he needed was to find out Drake bailed on him, or worse, Kyle had gotten lost.

A few more minutes went by, and still nothing.

He was worried, but didn't feel the true terror of being alone until a rattling noise had come from ahead. It echoed to the back of the building, but, from what Kyle could tell, it was near the side of the building, a small gap between this building and the other that led to the front, where some garbage had been tossed-and neglected.

"H-hello?" His voice was hoarse, his body trembling. He pulled out a knife from his pocket, holding it tightly as he inched his way closer. To be honest, the poor kid had a chance to just ditch.

He wanted to speak, to say something, but didn't. His inching ended when more noise was heard. Was that a grunt? He swallowed and leaned against the brick wall, peaking over into the small passage way.

In the distance, he could see a grey van parked, trunk wide open, and a large man dragging something from the back to a rather exposed pile of trash. He couldn't move, he was too afraid. He just watched, silently, and waited as the man left in a hurry, speeding off into the darkened streets.

Kyle felt his curiosity overwhelm him. This wasn't a good idea but somehow the guy couldn't talk himself out of taking a peek.

He tiptoed to the exposed garbage, but felt himself come to an involuntary halt once he reached the mass. His heart pounded in his head, and his stomach leaped-sending him to curl over and vomit. It was hard to recover, after seeing your first dead body. His mind was racing, his fingers quaking until finally the knife fell to his side, and he pulled out his phone.

His reasons for being out here weren't good, but deep down, Kyle knew he was a bigger man than to just walk away from a crime scene-especially when not only was he a witness, but had unwillingly left some of his own DNA at the scene.

Yeah, running wasn't a good idea.

**xxx**

Her despondent sigh had caught his attention. Ziva had been doing that for quite some time, starring from her phone, to out the window, where an expected shower had begun. He didn't bother with her the first few times, but by the fourth and fifth sigh, the Silver Fox gave in and drew his attention toward her.

"Something on your mind, Ziva?" He asked, pulling his glasses off of his nose now, giving her that well known stare. She was concerned. He was concerned-why couldn't they just come out with it already?

"I'm...worried," She spoke, straightening up a bit in her seat after confirmation that Gibbs had been paying attention. She was bothered, and he wanted to know why. Odds were it was over the same thing.

"It's been almost 24 hours Gibbs. Should that not be a cause for concern? Yet here we are, playing with paperwork, awaiting for Vance's orders..." Her frustration was evident in her voice. He noted her body tightening.

"And he has been hiding away all day! He knows something, Gibbs, and he is not telling us!"

Gibbs gazed at her, observing her. What she said had been 100% true, and despite the fact that it had bugged him just as much, if not more, he didn't bother making a scene-he knew she would.

"Are you not worried?"

He dropped his shoulders, shaking his head a bit. Not to answer her question, but more for himself. He didn't like this. Not at all.

"I'm worried," He responded, which actually caught her a bit off guard. At least he agreed.

"But," Ah, there was the 'but' she had half expected. To be honest, she didn't want to hear about anymore 'buts' 'ands' or 'ifs'.

"I trust that DiNozzo and McGee are both fine," He glanced at their desks. God he hoped he was right.

"They're undercover, but if something went down, we'd know. We have more than two pairs of eyes and ears in there. "

Ziva had wanted to object, but was interrupted by none other than the director himself. How had he managed to sneak in here like that? The two broke their bond and stood, greeting Leon in a rather...wordless fashion.

Vance didn't bother saying much, or giving any sign of good news. In fact, the look upon his face proved quite the opposite.

"Both of you get down to autopsy, now."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes, his authority challenging Leon's. He didn't like that kind of order-had he maybe asked, or elaborated...

"What's going on?" Ziva asked, slowly striding away from her desk, meeting at Gibbs' side.

The two men ended their battling gaze when Vance broke away, heading for the elevator himself. Gibbs bit at his temper and followed, keeping an eye on him. Ziva had a horrible feeling, something that kept growing each step they took toward Autopsy. If it was something important, wouldn't Ducky have called? Perhaps there was some evidence the ME had overlooked upon first examining their dead marine below? The whole reason they were all wrapped up in this case...

Sadly, that was not the case. Their arrival was sudden, and any hope of the case coming closer to an end had died the moment she saw both Ducky and Palmer. They were hiding their faces, both looking downward. Ducky held a fragile posture, his solemn eyes in a daze. Palmer looked much the same, but, were those tears in his eyes?

That wasn't what first caught Gibbs' attention.

He had instantly caught the unfriendly, black body bag resting on the nearest table. It was unzipped at the top, but the bag hadn't been pushed aside, or touched really. So whoever had been inside wasn't obvious.

"What is this?" Gibbs finally spoke, since no one else would. The ME's didn't respond vocally, but Gibbs had felt the knife of the situation jab him when his dear friend, Ducky, glanced at him with those grave eyes.

What was going on? No one moved, spoke, or did much of anything. Vance, however, nodded for Gibbs to approach the bag, and he did.

It took him a moment to pull it back. He didn't want to...he didn't want to see who it was, not this time. Flashes of Kate, Jenny and Mike flooded his vision. His fingers hesitantly rested on the zipper, pulling it back further until the dim light of the room glimmered on the pale body inside.

"I'm sorry Jethro," Ducky mumbled, Palmer grasping at his shoulder for support.

The still, stiff body lying there broke his heart. His eyes were closed, almost a look of peace on his face, despite the dark bruises and gashes that decorated his face. It took everything to keep him from screaming, crying, breathing...

How could this happen? Why didn't he know? He should have been there...

One thing was certain:

Whoever had murdered Tony DiNozzo, would pay with his own blood.

**((Ahh, all I can say is never read something and assume it is the truth :) Next chapter will hopefully be up by tomorrow-if not by this weekend. I had a bit of a brain crash with this one. I started thinking too deeply about the story, and kept finding issues-like things where I ended up going, "Why would they do that? Makes no sense..." But, I am no pro. I just write the best I can and make up shit as I go. Lol. So, I hope you enjoy. Never worry, there is more to this than it may appear. ;)))**


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